Certain known vehicle body side structure includes a side sill provided with a reinforcing member (rocker reinforcement member) that extends from a front end of the reinforcement member as far as a part of connection with the pillar reinforcement member (see Patent Literature 1, for example). In the thus-arranged vehicle body side structure, by virtue of the reinforcing member, increased rigidity is imparted to the connection part to thereby bear a side collision impact.
By thus causing the reinforcement member to extend from the front end of the side sill as far as the connection part with the pillar reinforcement, the front end of the reinforcement member can be disposed at the front end of the side sill. A front pillar is provided at the front end of the side sill in such a manner as to extend vertically therefrom. Thus, the front end of the reinforcing member can also be used as a bulkhead (partition wall) so that a lower end space of the front pillar can be partitioned or defined by the front end of the reinforcing member. In this arrangement, a load transmitted to a lower part of the front pillar from forward of the vehicle body can be transmitted to the side sill via the front end of the reinforcing member.
As a process for imparting rigidity to a vehicle body, it is known to provide a blank material at a position where rigidity is required, which process is called “Tailor Welded Blank” (hereinafter referred to as TWB) (see, for example, Patent Literature 2). The TWB enables provision of an outer panel in the form of an integral assembly by adding a blank material to a part where rigidity is required.
By adoption of the TWA, it becomes possible to remove from the side sill the reinforcing member shown in Patent Literature 1. However, if the reinforcing member is removed from the side sill, it becomes impossible to reinforce the lower part of the front pillar with the reinforcing member. Consequently, there remains a demand for a separate way to reinforce the lower part of the front pillar.